First in scoring

Chapter 47 47. Contemporary Jordan
Duncan and Ginobili's absence due to injury caused an uproar.

Many fans who paid in advance to watch the live broadcast of the game in order to watch the "Western Conference Finals Preview" and the "Legendary Trio Showdown" went to the official website of the NBA and the TV station to protest... The reason Popovich gave for the injury was too outrageous.

Popovich successfully focused people's attention on himself alone.

He could have actually announced the two players' injury earlier. He did not allow them to participate in the team training in San Antonio yesterday morning or today's preparatory training.

He chose to announce it right before the game in order to increase his chances of winning.

Look, after the entrance ceremony, Lakers head coach Jackson looked at the Spurs bench from time to time.

The old thief Popovich's actions disrupted the Shengun's preparations for the game.

Phil Jackson's tactics against Duncan and Ginobili will definitely not work, but even so, the Spurs are missing their two strongest players, and the Lakers' chances of winning are greatly increased.

Kobe looked at Duncan and Ginobili who were wearing suits with angry eyes.

The Lakers lost to the Spurs twice in the first two games of the season. The Lakers are in hot form recently. Kobe has been looking forward to this game for a long time and wants revenge. But the two old rivals suddenly said they don’t want to play anymore! Can’t afford to play, right?
As for Zhang Yang, he was also surprised when he saw Duncan and Ginobili did not participate in the tactical training yesterday morning.

He guessed that Popovich would most likely accept this suggestion, but he didn't expect the old man to be so efficient and start resting the players immediately, especially when their upcoming opponent was the Lakers.

This is also consistent with Zhang Yang's impression of Popovich, a villain coach Popovich, who will not do something if he doesn't want to do it, and will do it to the extreme if he wants to do it, and he doesn't care about being criticized.

But now Zhang Yang's attention is not on Popovich's fancy moves, his eyes are fixed on Kobe.

He was extremely excited to fight with this guy!

Kobe noticed someone staring at him and turned to look...that Chinese guard!

In the Western Conference Finals against the Suns last year and the Warriors this season, this Chinese guard named Jack shot without hesitation in the face of his defense, which left some impression on him.

Nowadays, all the young people want to have sex with him. He is a little proud of this. He thinks of when he first entered the NBA, the young people of his era all wanted to have sex with Michael Jordan.

So rounding off, he is the Jordan of the 21st century!
...

Ten minutes later, the starting players of both teams came on the court.

Lakers starting lineup: Fisher, Kobe, Artest, Gasol, Bynum.

Spurs starting lineup: Parker, Danny Green, Richard Jefferson, Blair, McDyess.

Zhang Yang sat on the bench, looking at Zhang Tielin who was starting the game, feeling a little envious.

Danny Green, a defensive pitcher from North Carolina, partnered with LeBron James for two years in the 9th and 10th grades of high school. He began to focus on running, catching the ball and shooting at an early age. After graduating from college in 09, he participated in the NBA draft and was selected by his old teammates of the Cavaliers with the 16th pick in the second round. However, the Cavaliers' pitching group was already full at the time, and he was later cut because the Cavaliers traded players to make room for the roster.

After being signed by the Spurs last summer, he was demoted to the Reno Bighorns of the NBDL. In the 16 games of the Development League, he averaged 20 points per game, showing extraordinary shooting and defensive abilities. He was recalled to the team by Popovich in January. He had not been given a chance to play before, but had been conducting tactical training with the team. Finally, he was included in the activation list when Duncan and Ginobili were resting, and was directly sent to the starting lineup.

Want to take advantage of the fact that the Lakers don't know Danny Green and catch the opponent by surprise?
After a moment of envy, Zhang Yang concentrated his attention and waited for the game to begin, observing the opponent's offense and defense.

At 8 pm, the game between the Spurs and the Lakers starts.

Duncan and Ginobili were 'injured', Stern was furious, public opinion was in an uproar, and passers-by fans watching the live broadcast felt hurt... but most of the fans at the scene were very happy. In their opinion, there was no suspense in tonight's game!
If the two strongest players on the opposite side don't fight, won't this game be won easily?

The Lakers players thought the same thing, and the tense state during preparation suddenly relaxed, and then... the Spurs started the game with an 8-0 run against the Lakers!

Danny Green, who played for the Spurs for the first time, made two three-pointers in a row. Parker stole the ball from Fisher and scored a layup in the counterattack. The Spurs widened the gap at the beginning of the game.

However, Kobe quickly recovered and made two mid-range shots, plus two consecutive singles against Richard Jefferson that caused fouls, scoring 8 points in a row, beating the Spurs 8 to 4, interrupting the Spurs' momentum to continue to widen the gap and narrowing the gap to a safe range of 4 points.

Popovich called a timeout and replaced Richard Jefferson with Zhang Yang.

This veteran gave Popovich a headache. After Bowen left in 08, the Spurs' front line defense was weak in the 08-09 season, so he traded Richard Jefferson back in the summer of 09. Although Richard Jefferson's defense is not as good as Bowen's, he is also first-class, and he has stronger ability to retreat and cut into the basket. He performed very well last season. Last summer, Popovich renewed his contract with him for 4 million US dollars for 4000 years... Who would have thought that Richard Jefferson, who just turned 30, would suddenly collapse in defense and his athletic ability would seriously decline.

Fortunately, Richard Jefferson's shooting skills and passing awareness have reached their peak with his age. This season, his long two-point and three-point shooting percentages and hits are career bests, and his assist-to-turnover ratio is also a career best. He is very important to the team. It's just that a player of this strength earning tens of millions of dollars a year is too much of a burden for the Spurs.

Putting the bad things aside, Popovich is in a good mood now. He was originally worried that Duncan and Ginobili not playing would affect the team's tactical operation, but this did not happen.

Even when Kobe scored 8 points in a row, the Spurs' tactical operation was not affected and they scored 4 points.

Duncan's influence on the Spurs has surpassed the game itself. As long as he has not retired, his teammates can have strong confidence even if he just sits on the sidelines in a suit.

On the court, the game continued and the Spurs attacked.

Parker continued to attack with McDyess through pick-and-roll, and Zhang Yang's appearance did not affect the Spurs' team offensive operation.

However, Zhang Yang's tactical awareness is indeed good. The defensive combination of Bynum, Artest and Kobe successfully blocked the pick-and-roll cooperation between Parker and McDyess, and cut off Parker's route to pass back to the high post and the wing. Zhang Yang predicted the opponent's defensive intention in advance, and promptly went down from the 45-degree angle on the right to the right baseline of the three-second zone to receive Parker's pass and avoid Parker being double-teamed and making a mistake.

But Gasol also did a very good job on defense. He moved into position immediately and blocked Zhang Yang's close-range shooting space. Artest also let go of Parker and pressed towards the baseline, blocking Zhang Yang's space to bypass Gasol and break into the blue zone.

Just when everyone thought Zhang Yang would pass the ball back to Parker, Zhang Yang suddenly passed the ball from the baseline! The ball flew past Bynum who was under the basket!

Blair received the ball on the left side of the three-second zone and made a layup behind Bynum's right side!

Popovich was so scared that he stood up. He really dared to pass the ball!

But this is exactly one of the characteristics that Zhang Yang liked—daring to think and act, very much like Ginobili.

However, he was a little worried that such a bold player might easily become crazy after becoming stronger...

The offense and defense switched, and the Lakers attacked.

Point guard Fisher dribbled the ball to the frontcourt and passed it to Kobe who scored 8 points in a row.

As soon as Kobe received the ball, he was stuck by Zhang Yang.

Kobe successfully passed Zhang Yang, but it took him a little longer than passing Richard Jefferson, and Danny Green successfully made up for it.

Although Zhang Yang's defensive skills and experience are not as good as Richard Jefferson's, his athletic ability is better than Richard Jefferson who collapsed at the age of 30, and his defensive attitude is like a mad dog, which helps Danny Green create conditions for backup defense.

After being passed, Zhang Yang immediately turned around and chased after him, and together with Danny Green, they surrounded Kobe.

Kobe Bryant took a strong shot against two people's interference... Zhang Yang, who is 196 cm tall and has a wingspan of 210 cm, and Danny Green, who is 198 cm tall and has a wingspan of 208 cm, both jumped up and stretched out their hands to interfere with the shot at a good time, forcing Kobe to increase the arc of his backward movement... "Bang"...

Ironclad!

McDyess secured the defensive rebound and quickly passed the ball to Parker.

Parker counterattacked and passed the ball to Zhang Yang who was running fast.

Kobe fought hard to retreat and got to the basket before Zhang Yang, and blocked Zhang Yang as soon as he received the ball.

Zhang Yang reacted subconsciously, grabbing the ball with both hands and taking a step forward to the right to avoid Kobe. When Kobe turned around and pressed forward again, Zhang Yang took a step to the left, came to the bottom of the basket, jumped and made a layup... and made it!
Euro step!
Kobe was very surprised. It had only been two months since they last played against each other. That time, Jack didn't know this move!
……

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(End of this chapter)